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Thing is, everyone knows Gonzaga is here now. The Zags are a big deal. They represent the single most remarkable transformation of a college athletic program since Knute Rockne turned a Catholic college in Northern Indiana into one of sports’ most recognizable names. No one saw Notre Dame coming, either.

Gonzaga Playes Asked: What is a Gamecock?

Cool video I found on the Bellingham Herald. Media rep asks some of the team what a "Gamecock" is. I suppose it might change from region to region, but if you spend any reasonable volume of time on Molokai you know that Matthews is pretty close to dead on the money.

Took my wife a couple weeks to accept the rationale as to why our the house behind where we were staying had a couple hundred roosters caged up. "Roosters don't lay eggs. That's dumb." She says. My response. They sure as hell don't . Hahaha. She figured it out after a while.

It's truly amazing the amount of attention and hype that surrounds the final four. And all it really is are four teams who were lucky enough to win four straight games in a basketball tournament. I mean, for me its the greatest sporting event on the planet, but the whole thing is beyond crazy when you really think about it.

It's truly amazing the amount of attention and hype that surrounds the final four. And all it really is are four teams who were lucky enough to win four straight games in a basketball tournament. I mean, for me its the greatest sporting event on the planet, but the whole thing is beyond crazy when you really think about it.

Yepper, my feeling too. Our team is savoring the moment though while remaining dialed in.

Birddog

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Final Four 2017: South Carolina, most shocking NCAA champion ever? For Gamecocks, it's game on
An article about why, if SC wins the title, it could be the most shocking surprise in the history of the NCAA tournament....even greater than the Villanova/Georgetown upset in the 80's:

•The Gamecocks almost certainly would have the worst KenPom team ranking of any champion since 2002. The lowest to date was Connecticut in 2014, at No. 15. USC is ranked 25th. Eight of the past 15 champions finished ranked No. 1.
•The Gamecocks would have the worst ranking in either offensive or defensive efficiency since Ken Pomeroy began gathering stats on teams’ points per possession. Every champion since then but one has ranked in the top 20 in both offense and defense. The exception is, again, the 2014 Connecticut team, which was 39th in offensive efficiency. South Carolina would have to play and win two more games to fulfill this hypothetical, so their offensive ranking could rise some, but it’s currently 103rd.
•The Gamecocks would become only the fourth champion ever with double-digit losses on the season. Kansas in 1988 (27-11), Villanova in 1985 (25-10) and N.C. State in 1983 (26-10) are the others. USC would be 28-10, and at least would have the best winning percentage of that quartet.
•The Gamecocks, who were the East Region No. 7 seed, would have one of the lowest tournament seeds of any champion in the expanded bracket era. Villanova was a No. 8 in 1985. Connecticut was a No. 7 in 2014.

Why would South Carolina be a bigger shock than Kansas ’88? Two words: Danny Manning. Bigger than Villanova ’85? The Wildcats had two first-round picks on that team, Eddie Pinckney and Harold Pressley. N.C. State ’83? After Dereck Whittenburg’s injured wrist healed, the Wolfpack won the ACC Tournament that year over Ralph Sampson’s Virginia and Michael Jordan’s North Carolina. The Gamecocks lost their first SEC Tournament game to an 18-13 Alabama team. By 11 points.

Wow, i didn't know those details either, that was bizarre. What a story.

"Without him, Gonzaga's not in Arizona." And Karno has to be Comeback Player of the Year, don't ya think?

Maybe Gonzaga won't retire his jersey (I know there are lots of opinions on that) but if they don't, they need to do something just short of that to honor and remember him. Like, duplicating that life sized image of Karno inside the Zag's locker room in AZ (picture with Spokesman Review story, Zag's 1st Day in Arizona) and put it where everyone can see it and take pictures of The Mountain.

When the Gonzaga season began, the most remarkable aspect of the Zags was their uncanny balance – seven different leading scorers in the first six games, and a new cumulative leader after each. Five players would score 20 points or more at least once; two more in GU’s eight-man rotation had games of 17 or better.

It’s still what makes solving the Zags like finishing a 1,000-piece picture puzzle of Dalmatians – that and a premier wheelman.

So while the Bulldogs were taking their early, sometimes halting steps in the tournament, the one real red flag was the struggle Williams-Goss was having on the offensive end. He was 12 of 42 those first three games. Turnovers were up; assists were down.

This is very alpha-doggish, too – and the reason why Gonzaga’s coaching staff deflected those numbers as no great concern.

“If that’s all he brought to the game, maybe you’d worry about it,” assistant Brian Michaelson said. “If he’s a specialist who has to make shots to be successful and he’s not making shots, then it can be hard to play him. But he’s an elite defensive player, a guy who gets you into your offense, who plays with toughness and competitiveness. You’re not going to worry about one phase of his game.”

Few helms a program with every trapping of a powerhouse. Players gathered Wednesday night for what was ostensibly a film session, with a Nike representative as a guest speaker. The Nike official said a few words, and then informed the Bulldogs somebody else had come and wished to say a few words. Into the room walked Kobe Bryant.

“It was probably the best time I ever had in my life,” junior guard Silas Melson said.

Former Gonzaga players and coaches starting pouring into Greater Phoenix later in the evening. Roth schmoozed with them. When he saw Monson, he told him, “Dan, thanks for helping us get this started.”

Nobody could have envisioned what Gonzaga has become, back when the players flew commercial and the bulldog wore a funny hat.

“For some people, that was a really long time ago,” Roth said. “For some others of us, it seems just like yesterday.”

“It hasn’t been with any regret,” Monson said. “I know I made the right decision for my family. I was going to make as much money in two years at Minnesota as I would in 15 years at Gonzaga. You don’t ever look back. To me, it’s been a tremendous sense of pride to see what Gonzaga has done.”

When Monson arrived at Gonzaga, the program showed no inkling of ascension. Dan Fitzgerald, the coach Monson and Few worked under together, would tell them to stop wasting the school’s time and money when they recruited a player whom Pac-10 schools also showed interest in. Monson saw his point. It only made Few want to recruit those players more.

“He wouldn’t accept where it was at and expected it to be better,” Monson said. “Mark would talk kids into coming we had no business getting. He had a way of making people feel, ‘You’re crazy to go to the University of Washington when you could go to Gonzaga.’ ”

After Monson took over for Fitzgerald, Gonzaga dominated the West Coast Conference for two seasons. In the second, they finally broke through and won the league tournament. And then, magic: The Bulldogs, as a 10 seed, toppled Minnesota, Stanford and Florida to reach the Elite Eight. Opportunity rushed at Monson. He saw a program at its peak, and worried he may not have a better chance to improve his career.